Before you can configure the router you first need to log in and run setup.
When booting from a floppy disk, type setup when prompted, when booting from a hard drive, (assuming you've previously used move2hdd) type: router.bat setup at the C:\> prompt.

After a while you'll be prompted to login as root. The default password is also root if you haven't changed it yet. You will then be taken automatically to the setup script.

If you wish to configure or reconfigure the router at a later time, it is also possible to run the setup script manually from logging in normally at the console, or via telnet and typing setup. The only exception is that the modem used for the dialin server cannot be autodetected if the dialin service is already running, as the com port is in use. In that case you need to either run setup from boot time as described, or configure the dialin modem manually.

A standard internal or external modem is used to dial an ISP at up to 56k. An internal modem must be a true hardware modem, not a so called “winmodem”. If the modem works in dos, chances are it will work in freesco. If it has jumpers to choose between plug and play and jumper set io and irq, you must choose jumper set. An external modem must be connected to a serial port with a 16550A UART chip unless you expect very poor performance. An external ISDN modem can also be used in dialup mode, however you wont get maximum performance from a dual channel (128k) external modem since the com port speed is limited to 115200 bps.

Dial on demand is used to dial out when traffic destined for the internet is detected, and hang up after a time period of no traffic. Control is provided from the console and web admin to override the dial on demand behaviour.

Optionally a second modem can be added for the remote access server, which can run at the same time as the normal dialout modem. Up to three network cards 1) are available to be connected to local networks.

This is similar to the dialup router mode, except no dialing is done - it is assumed that your leased line connection provides a 24hr serial connection to the other end of the link. It is up to the leased line hardware to establish and maintain the connection. The ppp protocol is still used to establish a local and remote ip address when booting the router. Some editing of scripts may be necessary for success with this mode.

This mode is used either when connecting to a cable or dsl modem, or other high speed internet connection which terminates as an ethernet connection, or when using freesco as a router or server on an internal network with no internet connection.

In the former case you generally enable NAT/firewall mode, and connect the device providing the internet connection to the first network interface, and the remaining two can connect to up to two local networks. Normal routing can be provided between those two networks at the same time, or can be disabled while still providing internet access to both.

In the later case you generally disable NAT/firewall mode, and connect up to three local networks, with freesco acting as a router between them. (And also providing any services which are enabled, such as dhcp, dns, print etc)

Either one or two dialin modems can be used in ethernet router mode and they allow dialin users access to the internet connection, and optionally to the local network.

Think of freesco in ethernet bridge mode as a switching hub with a maximum of three “ports”. You can use it to bridge together two or three physical networks into one logical network. All types of traffic are passed - including IPX/SPX, NetBEUI, AppleTalk etc, which are not normally passed in routing mode. Broadcasts are sent everywhere, but the bridge learns which physical network each computer is on, and passes point to point traffic only to the correct destination port, helping to alleviate network congestion. Bridging is also useful for connecting different media types - for example joining two physical networks where one is coax and the other is 10base-T, or where one is running at 10MB/s and the other is at 100MB/s.

Bridging mode follows the standard IEEE spanning tree algorithm which means it will operate correctly with other switches in a complex switched environment. Currently it is not possible to provide any other services at the same time as bridging, (dialup, print server, dns etc) but that may change in the future. Keep in mind that bridging can be fairly CPU intensive compared to normal routing since all traffic must be processed, so a slower machine may not cope with heavy traffic in bridging mode.

Options in green are required to be entered or changed from defaults, Yellow options are optional, and Red options are “experts only”. Most settings display the existing value within square brackets. If you just press enter, this existing value will be retained. If the square brackets are empty there is no existing value, in which case pressing enter will leave it blank. Because just pressing enter leaves the existing value, many settings which may need to be blank allow you to clear them by entering just a single minus sign ( - ) and pressing enter.